MoorLIFE 2020: D5 A Carbon Audit Case Study May 2018

(LIFE14 NAT/UK/000070)

Creating a positive carbon impact through

Moorland restoration

The Moors for the Future Partnership (MFFP) is a conservation organisation that works with key

stakeholders to conserve and restore Blanket Bog habitats using innovative conservation techniques,

with key sites being monitored to help inform future restoration work. Additionally, the organisation

aims to educate and promote the responsible use of these habitats.

One way MFFP is delivering these aims is through the MoorLIFE 2020 project, which is an EU funded LIFE

project that aims to support environmental, nature conservation and climate action projects throughout

Europe. The project focuses on the landscape of the South Pennine Moors (SPM) Special Area of

Conservation (SAC), see figure 1 below. Working at a landscape scale provides greater resilience to

climate change and increases the opportunity for wildlife migration and movement. Furthermore, the

SPM SAC forms one of the most southerly and significant areas of Active Blanket Bog, which is protected

by both UK and European legislation. MFFP are delivering the outcomes of the project in partnership

with the National Trust, Pennine Prospects, RSPB, Yorkshire Water, United Utilities and Severn Trent

Water.

Figure 1 – The location of the brash spreading on Derwent and Howden in relation to the SPM SAC

1 - Defra, (2013) Environmental reporting guidelines: Including mandatory greenhouse gas emissions reporting guidance. Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, London.

As part of the MoorLIFE 2020 project, MFFP are undertaking a Carbon Audit that aims to calculate the

greenhouse gas emissions associated with the work (e.g. from conservation activities to office work)

undertaken by all partners involved in delivering MoorLIFE 2020. These actions are then split depending

upon the scope of the action as defined by DEFRA (Department Environment Food and Rural Affairs),

see figure 2 below. The scope of the action then determines which conversion factors are used to

calculate carbon dioxide equivalents.

Figure 2 – Explanation of the scopes associated with our carbon audit 1

One site where MFFP is working in

partnership with the National Trust (NT) to

deliver conservation works as part of

MoorLIFE 2020 is Derwent and Howden

Moor, which is located close to Ladybower

Reservoir in the Peak District National

Park, see figure 1 above. On this site areas

of bare peat were covered with Heather

brash (which is double chopped heather),

see figure 3, and is applied to stabilise

approximately 3.6km2 of bare peat. This

reduces erosion rates and prepares these

areas for re-vegetation,

Figure 3 – Example of Heather brash spreading

2 – Benson, J., Titterton, P., Crouch, T., Thorpe, K., and Walker, J.S. (2016) MoorLIFE 2020: D5 Update Report 2016: A guide to the project carbon audit processes and protocols, including a presentation of Year 1 project audit figures, Moors For the Future report, Edale

providing a number of ecosystem services including water regulation and carbon sequestration.

Conserving Blanket Bogs helps to avoid carbon loss through reducing the amount of peat being dissolved

and washed away, allowing vegetation to grow on site trapping atmospheric carbon.

To successfully deliver heather brash spreading work, MFFP

used GIS to map areas of bare peat using the latest aerial

photographs. Staff members were then able to work out

the amount of Heather brash required to cover the areas of

bare peat. This work was undertaken at MFFP office where

our greenhouse gas emissions were captured as part of our

office energy usage (which includes electricity and water)

and was calculated using the methodology outlined within

the MoorLIFE 2020: D5 update report 2016 produced by

Benson, Titterton, Crouch, Thorpe and Walker (2016)2, and

can be found here www.moorsforthefuture.org.uk/carbon-

audit.

Once the actions associated with setting up the project

were completed, Heather brash was flown from the cutting

site to the work areas using a Hughes 500 helicopter by the

contractor, see figure 4. On average this was a journey of

5.7km, and involved undertaking 200 flights to deliver 80 tonnes of brash to the work areas. To ensure

that emissions were captured from all contractors associated with delivering this work we included a

sentence within their contracts stating that they had to provide us with the distance they travel to site,

the number of trips made to the site and the vehicles used, this enabled us to calculate their carbon

expenditure associated with this work.

A template was developed to record this information for each of the main activities undertaken in

ML2020 (delivery, flying, contractor travel), and whilst the template varied slightly depending on the

type of activity (e.g. the make of helicopter was included in the flying template) the key information

included the number of journeys, the type of vehicle used, distance travelled and the type of fuel used

see figure 5 below.

Figure 4 – Delivering materials to site

Figure 5 - Templates used to collate the major actions

Flying Template

Delivery Template

Contractor Travel

2 – Benson, J., Titterton, P., Crouch, T., Thorpe, K., and Walker, J.S. (2016) MoorLIFE 2020: D5 Update Report 2016: A guide to the project carbon audit processes and protocols, including a presentation of Year 1 project audit figures, Moors For the Future report, Edale 3 – DEFRA. (2013) Environmental Reporting Guidelines: including mandatory greenhouse gas emissions reporting guidance [online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/environmental-reporting-guidelines-including-mandatory-greenhouse-gas-emissions-reporting-guidance Accessed 05.02.2018

The aim of these templates is to collate all operations associated with the project in one place, and then using conversion factors from DEFRA’s

Environmental reporting guidelines3, convert the operational information into Kg of Carbon Dioxide equivalents (kg of CO2e). A full explanation

of the methodology used is presented in the MoorLIFE 2020: D5 update report 2016 produced by Benson, Titterton, Crouch, Thorpe and Walker

(2016) 2, which can be found here www.moorsforthefuture.org.uk/carbon-audit.

Once the heather brash was on site the material was spread on areas of bare peat by a different contractor. During and after the works, teams

from MFFP and the NT went out to supervise and to inspect that the work was completed to the correct standards. For the carbon audit this

meant collecting tail pipe emissions associated with any staff travel to the site, and included works vehicles, employees and volunteers own

vehicles. This was then captured using the template in figure 6 below.

Figure 6 – Travel Template

3 – DEFRA. (2013) Environmental Reporting Guidelines: including mandatory greenhouse gas emissions reporting guidance [online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/environmental-reporting-guidelines-including-mandatory-greenhouse-gas-emissions-reporting-guidance Accessed 05.02.2018

In total 11,734kg of CO2e was emitted during the brash spreading work on Derwent and Howden Moor,

which equates to a carbon intensity figure of 3,829 kg of CO2e per hectare. Carbon intensity figures are

calculated to allow a comparison between the amount of carbon emitted on different sites and even

different activities by using a common factor (e.g. area). The Carbon intensity figure was calculated by

dividing total kg of CO2e emitted by the number of hectares covered by brash 3.

Undertaking bare peat stabilization work on Derwent and Howden Moor provides a carbon benefit of

13,729 kg of CO2e per year (estimated using findings in Worrell’s 2011 Carbon fluxes from managed

peatlands report 4). In total, the carbon benefit is approximately 1.2 times greater than the one-off

carbon emissions from the works and the carbon benefit will continue to accrue over time. The carbon

benefit is equal to driving 2,868 miles in an average family car every year!

All figures were converted into carbon dioxide equivalents to allow for comparison and aggregation

between the different types of greenhouse gas emissions (e.g. Carbon Dioxide, Methane).

Whilst the conservation work undertaken on Derwent and Howden Moor and other sites is carbon

positive, we are always looking for ways to reduce our emissions further, including ensuring lift sites are

as close as possible to the delivery location, to cut down on the amount of emissions used in helicopter

work, see figure 7 below, and sharing lifts between employees and organisations.

3 – DEFRA. (2013) Environmental Reporting Guidelines: including mandatory greenhouse gas emissions reporting guidance [online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/environmental-reporting-guidelines-including-mandatory-greenhouse-gas-emissions-reporting-guidance Accessed 05.02.2018

Figure 7 – Potential and the actual lift site locations

Brash spreading on Derwent and Howden Moor represents 6.9% of the total area of bare peat treated

under the MoorLIFE 2020 project. Scaling this up to the whole project, we would expect to see

approximate carbon benefits of 16,957kg of CO2e per year for all brash spreading associated with

MoorLIFE2020 works, which is equal to driving 41,561 miles in an average family car every year!

Spreading brash to stabilise bare peat is just one action being undertaken by MFFP and our partners on

a specific moor, in total MoorLIFE 2020 encompasses 53 different moors across the whole length of the

SPM SAC. This meant that the methodology

developed had to be easy to use and adaptable

to suit all actions (e.g. Sphagnum Moss planting

on Snailsden Moor, see figure 8). As our actions

vary, a master spreadsheet was developed, see

figure 9 below, to allow all the data to be

collated in one place and a total kg of CO2e

figure calculated on an annual basis. Figures

have been calculated for the first two years of

the project, which so far has emitted in total

190,111kg of CO2e which equates to 16,783kg

of CO2e in year 1, which was a preparatory year

allowing staff to put the support systems in

place and only covers 6 months, whereas in year 2, 173,328 kg of CO2e was produced, and represents

the first year of works. Carbon benefit figures have not been calculated per year yet as carbon budget

figures do not currently exist for the benefits of planting Sphagnum Moss, which comprises the majority

of the work under MoorLIFE 2020.

Figure 9 – Master spreadsheet used to record all actions

Another challenge that had to be overcome was creating a methodology which suited all partners and

actions. To overcome this, DEFRA guidelines and notes were used along with quarterly update meetings

to check that all partners were making good progress with the carbon audit and allow any issues to be

resolved. This allowed each partner organisation to complete the carbon audit actions associated with

their organisations, with MFFP collating and calculating total emission figures annually.

Figure 8 – Sphagnum planting

Thank you to the National Trust, Tenant Farmers and Shoot Tenants on Derwent and Howden Moor for

allowing us to use their site as a case study.

For more information on MoorLIFE 2020 please visit our website at www.moorsforthefuture.org